


Heavy Metal Broke My Heart / You're About To Bloom

by killingmonsterswritingthings



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, Fix-It, Gen, M/M, Post-Petals to the Metal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 00:57:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9048919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killingmonsterswritingthings/pseuds/killingmonsterswritingthings
Summary: The boys go back to fix what went wrong in Goldcliff.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [karcathy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/karcathy/gifts).



> bOY, it's christmas morning and i have to leave in literally 10 minutes and i'm not dressed yet but i had to get this up
> 
> merry christmas, cat <3 i love you!

 

“Listen,” Taako said, with his legs dangling from his perch on the table. He had refused to take one of the stools, they looked way too rickety and like they would fall apart any moment. “Listen. With your nature powers and whole life and death” – he waved his hands through the air in a vague motion – “ _inclination_ … And my general awesomeness we could fix that entire tree situation with Hurley and the Raven. What was her name?”

Merle just peered up at him, waiting for him to continue while Magnus huffed. “ _Sloane_ . Honestly.”

“Yeah, sorry, whatever. So like, I could definitely try Remove Curse on them and if that doesn’t work Reincarnate _definitely_ will.”

“Or,” Merle cut in, “we talk to Istus and see if she can do anything about it.”

“Huh, good idea,” Magnus said.

“I’d try to do it on our own first,” Taako shrugged. “Since it’s partly our fault.”

Magnus raised an eyebrow. “That seems like misplaced guilt, my friend. Also I mean, Reincarnate would be fucking with fate anyway, right?”

“We don’t have to consult her every time we do something,” Taako said.

“Hold up,” Merle said, pushing aside his mug, “do we even know they’re dead? I mean, they turned into a tree so they should still be there, in which case we can definitely at least try.”

Taako grinned. “I know someone who can tell us.”

He activated his stone of farspeech and prayed that the call would go through. The signal was spotty at best and he really didn’t want to cast Contact Other Plane again.

“Yes?” a tired voice came through the stone.

“Oh, great, you’re somewhere I can reach you,” Taako said happily. “Hey.”

“Hello Taako,” Kravitz said, sounding a little more awake now. Taako could hear the smile in his voice. “Did something happen?”

“No, we’re just having breakfast and had a question concerning uh… life and death, so to speak.”

“Taako, not again…”

“No, no one died, it’s fine,” he said hastily and rolled his eyes in Merle’s and Magnus’ direction. “I just want to know if someone I know is actually, well… dead.”

“Oh,” Kravitz said. “Uh, yeah, I guess I could um… do you that favor and look up their names if you give them to me.”

Taako showed a thumbs up to his friends. “Okay, so I don’t know their last names or anything but I have info. They’re from Goldcliff. One is Sloane, who fell under the influence of the Gaia Sash and she was known as uh…The Raven. Oh man, she’s not The Raven Queen, is she?”

Kravitz made an indignant sound. “The Raven Queen would hardly use the Gaia Sash,” he said. “It was clearly an Alias.”

“Alright, cool. Um… the other one’s Hurley. A Halfling who was part of the Militia in Goldcliff but also did some illegal battle wagon racing under the name The… Ram, I think.”

“Alright. I’ll see what I can do.”

Taako did a little excited jump, effectively slipping off the table and bumping his legs into Magnus, who caught him with a sigh. “Thank you!”

Magnus didn’t let go of him, apparently deep in thought. “Hold up.”

“What is it, big boy?”

“Couldn’t we also use Kravitz in general if we tried this? I mean he’s a grimreaper, so he has an in with the Raven Queen and a bit of pull with… forces of life and death.”

Taako shrugged. “Sure, I can ask. But I doubt he can like. Revive people.”

“Are you _sure_ though?” Merle asked. “Like, we’ve never actually seen him do his job.”

“Okay, that’s fair and all, but I’m still pretty sure there’s only so much he can do. I will ask though, because I’m always curious.”

 

No ten minutes later – as they were discussing what things they should pack for the journey and if bringing Angus would be a good idea – a portal opened and Kravitz stepped through personally.

“I’ll never get used to him doing that,” Magnus mumbled.

“Hi Kravitz!” Merle said.

Taako grinned. “Well, you better, because it’s going to happen a lot.” He walked up to Kravitz and kissed him. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Kravitz looked at the others and awkwardly waved. “Hello again.”

“What did you find out?” Taako asked.

“Well, here’s the good news: They’re not dead,” he started and Taako whooped while Magnus fistpumped and Merle let out a relieved laugh. Kravitz patiently waited for them to quiet down before he continued. “However they’re not quite… alive, either.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not really my department but they seem to be stuck somewhere in-between. They’re more alive than dead but not… really.”

“That’s helpful,” Magnus mumbled.

“No, it _is_ good news,” Merle said. “That means they’re not gone, so we can get them back.”

“Correction,” Taako said, “it means I don’t have to call in sexual favors to get them back.”

Kravitz sputtered. “ _What?_ ”

“Just kidding,” Taako laughed. Kravitz didn’t look entirely convinced but Taako just winked at him. He was rarely serious. But he wouldn’t be above sleeping with a few grim reapers to get two innocent people back to life.

“I guess we should get going then,” Merle said.

“Hold up,” Magnus said. “We haven’t asked Kravitz yet.”

“Asked me what?”

“Oh!” Taako made. “If you wanna come with us, of course?”

Kravitz blinked. “Uh, sure? I have nothing else on my agenda for today and uh… I like spending time with you.” He added the last part a little quieter.

“Excellent,” Taako said, taking Kravitz’ cold hand. “Let’s go then.”

“We should get our stuff first, probably,” Magnus said.

They parted to go to their separate quarters to pack but not without Merle throwing a teasing “And no making out, you two! We wanna leave,” at Taako and Kravitz.

Taako stuck his tongue out at him as he dragged Kravitz from the mess hall.

They did make out but only for a couple minutes, until Magnus rapped on the door to Taako’s quarters and reminded him that the issue wasn’t time sensitive but they did kind of want to get Hurley and Sloane out of the tree for Candlenights.

So Taako reluctantly disentangled himself from Kravitz, grabbed his bag and then they were headed out the door.

 

“How do we explain this to Avi?” Magnus asked on the way to the port.

Taako shrugged. “Maybe he’ll be drunk again.”

“That happened once,” Merle said. “I’m more concerned with how he’s going to react to Kravitz.”

“Oh, he knows me,” Kravitz said.

Three heads turned to him.

“I wasn’t there for that meeting,” Taako said. He honestly couldn’t remember Kravitz meeting Avi.

“He saw me like… two weeks ago,” Kravitz said. “After our last date. He said he was happy to finally meet your boyfriend… The people on this base really love you.”

Taako grinned. “Cool. But did he see you in like… human form or with the whole skull thing going on?”

They had reached the doors that led to the glass cannonball hangar.

“Give the guy more credit,” Magnus said, “he’s seen a town stuck in time.”

“Fair,” Taako said, “but he could have died from the shock and that would have just been awkward.”

“He saw me with this face,” Kravitz said.

“Oh okay,” Taako said, “because we did that thing before, so I thought you might have just walked out like that…”

“Wait, what thing?” Merle asked.

“No!” Magnus cut in. “I do _not_ want to know that!”

Taako laughed and pushed the doors open. “I’ll tell you about it another time. Hey, Avi!”

Avi had been hovering over one of the spheres in the workshop corner but quickly walked around it and came up to them. “Hey guys! Hi Kravitz. What are you all doing here?”

“We came to visit you, of course,” Magnus said.

“Liar.” Avi hit him on the arm with a magical looking wrench.

“Yeah, okay, we’re here for travel,” he said. “We have something to… put right, before the holidays.”

Avi cocked his head to the side but didn’t miss a beat otherwise. “Alright. Where do you wanna go?”

The three of them shared another look.

“Goldcliff,” Merle finally carefully ventured.

“Okay,” Avi said but he looked a little more suspicious now. “Does the director know about this?”

“Has nothing to do with her,” Magnus shrugged. “And trips don’t need to be approved, right?”

“Right.” Avi sighed and walked over to the aiming mechanism. “This’ll take a couple minutes. Four to go down this time, I assume?”

“Yep!” Taako interlocked his fingers behind his head and rocked back on his heels. Somehow he was really looking forward to this mission. It didn’t seem as dangerous as the things they had been doing recently and they were doing something good in the process.

His moment was interrupted when he tipped back a little too far and almost fell over backwards.

Kravitz caught him with a sigh. “You should really be more careful.”

“You know almost dying is my thing,” Taako grinned.

Kravitz opened his mouth to argue and then closed it again. Taako’s grin widened.

 

It did indeed take a few minutes but finally a sphere rolled up for them.

“Alright, get in and I’ll launch you,” Avi said, wiping his hands on his pants.

“Thanks, dude,” Magnus said, climbing in first. The others followed, all politely thanking Avi, which made him raise an eyebrow but he still didn’t seem like he was going to stop them. They weren’t doing anything forbidden but they had purposefully not talked to the director about it.

“I’ll see you soon,” Avi said and waved at them before he closed the door.

“This is surprisingly spacious,” Kravitz said, looking around from where he was sitting between Magnus and Merle. Taako had once again claimed the seat with the lever.

“It also has a great view,” Taako said. “Have you ever flown before?”

“Not really, although there was this one time where-“

He was interrupted by the machinery of the cannon rumbling and Avi’s voice sounding through the room.

“I’ll count you down now. Three… two… one…”

And then they were flying.

 

There was a lot of clouds at first but once they broke through, Goldcliff was spread out beneath them, glittering and bathed in light and just as beautiful as Taako remembered.

“I hope they don’t arrest us,” Merle mumbled.

“None of this was our fault,” Magnus said. “We helped them! I mean I guess Captain Captain Bane died, but he tried to poison us.”

“Wasn’t he a Bureau employee?” Merle asked. “So I’m gonna assume everyone forgot about him. Either way, they can’t blame us.”

“Eh,” Magnus made, “guess you’re right.” He didn’t look particularly convinced though. Taako sighed and leaned back from here we was sitting to pet his arm comfortingly.

“We’re heroes, alright? Pretty sure they’re aware of that.”

Magnus swallowed and nodded.

 

They floated in silence for a while until they got closer to the city and Taako had to deploy the lever.

“You wouldn’t know what happened here, just by looking at it,” Magnus said. “I couldn’t look at Phandalin again, you know, but this here… I can come back to this. We did better here.”

“We did,” Merle said. “We learned a lot.”

They sailed across the rooftops of the town and finally landed in a similar alley to the one they had when they had first come here. And then they just sat there.

For some reason Taako wanted to immediately activate his bracer and go back home. He couldn’t do this. They would fail and just be left standing there, looking at a tree with two women trapped inside. And they had helped in putting them there, even though they had done their best to prevent it.

He had barely finished the thought when Magnus got up and shoved open the door. “Let’s go.”

Taako sighed, brushed his hair over his shoulder and reluctantly got up to follow him and Merle.

Kravitz put a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

Taako shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You’re doing a good thing, you know?” Kravitz said and gave him a slight push out the door. “It doesn’t have to work for your good intentions to be valid.”

“But I really want it to work,” Taako said.

“Well, with your thick head and stubbornness it might just work.”

Taako sighed and stepped out of the sphere. “Only one way to find out.”

 

They were uncharacteristically quiet on their way to the town square. Maybe because for once they didn’t want to attract any attention.

They rounded the corner and came upon what had formerly been the fountain in the town center, where the cherry blossom tree now stood.

“Looks like it grew since we last saw it,” Merle said.

“Definitely, yeah,” Taako said and walked around it once. It was thicker than he remembered and it took him a few seconds to get back to the others. “It grew fast, huh?”

“And in a desert climate, to boot,” Kravitz mumbled.

They all stood in a semi-circle around the tree.

“So, Hurley was dying when we last saw her,” Magnus said slowly. “She was poisoned. But you”-he looked at Kravitz-“said she wasn’t dead. So clearly the magic Sloane did is keeping her alive. Question is…”

“… will it still work if we get them out of there?” Taako continued.

“Can you sense them in there?” Magnus asked Kravitz.

Kravitz’ expression changed for a second and Taako knew he was concentrating on the life aura around him. It wasn’t as overt as his skull transformation but there was this barely discernable flicker and his figure became somehow… denser. Darker. Thicker.

He blinked once, his dark lashes fluttering over his high cheekbones and then he was back to normal. “Yes, they’re in there. One of them is stronger than the other but they don’t seem to be dying at all – it’s like energy is flowing into them. But it’s also changing them. They’re not… they don’t have bodies anymore, as you can see, but their souls are changing as well.”

“Plant magic,” Magnus mumbled.

Merle rolled his eyes. “Hold on,” he said and slowly approached the tree.

“Gonna charm it into giving them back to us?” Magnus quipped.

“Oh, shut up.” Merle put a hand on the tree’s bark. The others watched as he seemed to search for something – or maybe he was just waiting for a sign, Taako wasn’t sure. “It’s young and old at the same time,” he finally said. “And Kravitz is right, they’re really rightly interwoven. I think it’s because Sloane’s magic created this tree, so it drew its life energy from them and they became one.”

A shower of cherry blossoms went down on him as he stepped back.

“So, if we get their souls out of the tree with Reincarnate somehow, could you keep them alive so we can put them into new bodies?” Taako asked Kravitz.

“I’m not a necromancer. I could try, but it would be hard when my usual job description is… well… the opposite of keeping people alive.”

“Should’ve kept that Lucas dude around,” Merle grumbled.

“Wasn’t he an alchemist?” Magnus asked.

Taako made a dismissive hand gesture. “I still think our original plan should work.”

“Yeah, but I still think it’s not a _curse_. What Sloane did was closer to transmutation and healing.”

“Exactly our wheelhouse then. Maybe I can combine spells somehow?”

“Make up an entirely new one?” Merle seemed skeptical. “Taako, are you sure…”

“Well, we have to find a way to somehow reverse the spell that turned them into a tree without killing them, and if we only manage to free their souls they need bodies…”

“Couldn’t you make them sentient plants?” Magnus asked.

“Like _Trent_? Do you really think that would be wise?” Merle asked and he sounded rightfully disgusted.

“Not exactly like Trent, no,” Magnus said, frowning. “But that’s the general direction I was going in, yeah…”

“I think we’re overthinking this,” Taako cut in. “Let’s just try this, okay?”

“So I’ll be… talking to the tree and you’ll try to use Reverse Curse?” Merle asked.

“Yep, that sounds about right.” He shrugged.

Merle sighed and rolled up his sleeves. “Alright, let’s do it.”

Taako took a deep breath, raising the Umbra staff slightly.

He didn’t say anything – he just focused. This was new territory, not some spell he had learned but magic he was creating. Sure, they were good at making up things on the spot but this was a first even for him.

The magic felt different this time. More... focused and simultaneously more frayed.

Meanwhile Merle had his hand pressed to the tree again, whispering words Taako could barely make out – and if he could, he didn’t understand them. This was different from the time when Merle had seduced those vines into letting them through. This was serious. This was on a different level.

Energy was crackling at the ends of the Umbra staff and Taako had to grin. This was going to work.

He watched as the tree became engulfed in purple light. Its branches swayed in a breeze that hadn’t been there before. Taako could feel it get caught in his hair, too, and his grin grew wider. Another flurry of cherry petals swirled around them and he could see the bark of the tree shifting around the two figures in its trunk.

Behind him Magnus gasped. “Holy shit, it’s working.”

Suddenly Taako heard a high-pitched noise. At first he attributed it to the power, the magic, the amount of energy in the air around them but it kept swelling. And after a few moments he realized it was a scream. Goosebumps crept up his arm but he held the Umbra staff steady.

As he watched, one of the two figures intertwined in the tree became alive, moving. She straightened up at first, the bark engulfing her turning back to skin, and then fell to her knees again, still screaming. Now that the sound was coming straight from her throat it was piercing and raw. Taako had the urge to cover his ears.

“Sloane,” Magnus whispered, taking a step towards her.

“Wait!” Merle shouted, not taking his hand off the tree but slowly going to his knees so he was at eye level with Sloane.

“She’ll die!” Sloane wailed. “If you remove her from the tree she’ll die!”

“No, she won’t!” Taako said firmly. “You got us here and we’ve learned a whole damn lot, so she won’t.”

“We’re here to help,” Merle said. “I promise we can help.”

“I did this so she could live, even if it was like this!” Sloane gestured at the tree and her movement was weak where her voice was strong. “Don’t take her from me, please.”

“She’s not dying,” Kravitz said and Taako craned his neck so he could look at him without moving his arm.

“How do you know?”

“I’m… Death, so to speak,” Kravitz said.

Sloane gaped at him. “Death?”

“It’s not important,” Taako said. “Please just… let us do this.”

He became aware that at some point in the last few minutes they had attracted an audience. They had expected this, seeing how they had come here in the middle of the day but honestly, he had forgotten that they were in a rather large town in broad daylight. He had been so focused on his magic, on their goal, on Sloane and Hurley, that the crowd gathering ten feet away just hadn't registered with him until now.

He blended them out again. He couldn't use the distraction right now.

Instead he looked at Sloane, whose eyes wandered from one of them to the other. Then she slumped and sighed. “Please… don’t her hurt her any more, okay?”

“We won’t,” Magnus said.

“I promise,” Taako added. He hoped he wouldn’t regret it.

Sloane looked at him and nodded.

He righted the Umbra staff and concentrated again. The magic had begun to fray as they had talked to Sloane but as he focused it again the purple light returned.

This time he could  _feel_ where the magic was going – and he could feel how much of it was being consumed by this spell. Much more than had been necessary for Sloane.

“Hey,” he heard Merle say, “it’s alright. Just keep going.” He honestly wasn’t sure if Merle was encouraging him, Hurley, or himself. Then his voice dropped to a low whisper again and Taako couldn’t understand anymore.

The magic drain got stronger and for a second Taako thought he couldn’t bear it any longer – but then he spotted more movement and gripped the handle of the Umbra staff tighter.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Hurley’s figure detached from the bark of the tree and rose to her feet.

Except her skin didn’t change. A low groan came from her as she stiffly raised her arms, covered in bark, and clawed at her body with hands that were more like twigs than fingers.

“What’s wrong?” Magnus asked.

“She changed,” Kravitz said, as they all stared at Hurley in horror.

Sloane groaned and buried her face in her hands.

Taako slowly lowered the staff and approached Hurley, trying to overcome his shock.

“Hurley...,” he said and his eyes wandered from her to Merle. “What do we do?”

She groaned again. “Help... me...”

Suddenly there was hand on Taako’s arm and when he looked up he saw Kravitz. “She’s not dying,” he said. “But she’s not… quite alive again yet.”

“How?” Taako asked, helpless. “How do we help her?”

“Transmute her skin?” Merle ventured.

Taako sighed. He didn’t have any other choice but to try.

The umbra staff seemed eager to help. It traced Hurley’s outline willingly, almost on its own. Taako hoped that it knew what it was doing, because he sure as hell didn't. For all he knew Hurley's intestines could be wooden, too. Her heart, her stomach, her nerves.

He saw Hurley turn softer, closer to what Taako remembered her to be like, but her skin stayed green and brown in places, patchy and stiff.

“She looks like she’s part dryad,” Magnus said, now finally approaching.

“I can hear you, you know?” Hurley mumbled and finally opened her eyes. She slowly stretched her arms.

Taako thought he might cry. “Are you alright?” he asked. He looked at Kravitz. “Is she alright?”

“She's alright,” Kravitz and Merle said at the same time.

“I feel fine,” Hurley said.

There was a cry and Sloane launched herself forward, stumbling past Taako and into Hurley's arms. She held her for a moment, shaking, and Taako slowly lowered the umbra staff once again. Sloane leaned back after a moment, tears streaking her face, and held Hurley's face between both hands.

“Are you really alright?” she asked and looked at her intently. “Did we do this? Did we survive?”

“I feel fine,” Hurley repeated. “Honestly I feel... so much better than I remember. I feel older, but stronger than I have... ever been, really.”

Sloane wiped away a fresh onslaught of tears and pressed a kiss to Hurley's brow, then one on her lips. “I'm so glad,” she whispered hoarsely. She turned a little and looked at the three of them. “Thank you! Thank you...”

Hurley reached up and traced Sloane's face with her fingers, a smile forming on her face. “I'm so glad to see you again.”

Sloane smiled back at her before her face crumpled in realization, in remembering. “I'm so so sorry, for all I did.”

“It wasn't your fault. And we're all still here, thanks to these three,” Hurley said.

“It really wasn't your fault,” Taako said. “The Grand Relics...” - he corrected himself in case she could only hear static - “These objects are powerful. Way too powerful for any of us. We only got lucky to be able to resist them.”

She blinked up at them. “But I gave in to it...”

“Sloane,” Magnus said, getting to his knees next to her, “there isn't a lot of people who were taken over by the Relics and got out of it and _lived_. You're a miracle. You just wanted to do good. You didn't know.”

“It's going to be fine,” Taako said. “You're going to be fine now.”

“How do you know I'm not going to get power hungry again?” Sloane asked.

Taako shrugged. “Don't we all at some point? And look at this tree... This is who you _really_ are. I'm sure Hurley's gonna make sure you stay true to yourself.”

Sloane looked up at the tree that had kept standing despite the removal of their two figures and the large influx of magic.

“I can't believe it's still there...,” she mumbled.

“I think it's going to stay there,” Merle said. “It's strong.”

“Like you,” Magnus added.

For a moment they all stared at each other. Then Sloane's smile broke through again, although watery from tears.

“Group hug!”, Hurley declared. “Come on, guys, bring it in.”

Of course Magnus was the first to throw his arms around the pair but Merle and Taako weren't far behind. Kravitz stood awkwardly in the background for a moment before Magnus dragged him in. It was warm and kind of smelly and, in its own way, a perfect hug.

“You know what we should do?” Hurley said after a long while.

“A party,” Magnus said.

“A party!” Taako agreed with a grin.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> (i hope there was no glaring mistakes :') )
> 
> come find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/luffylaws) or [tumblr](https://luffylaws.tumblr.com)!


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